I agree with hotcooknmama that media exposure has a lot to do with it.  We have magazines and cookbooks out there now in mainstream bookstores that would be unheard of a decade or two ago.  There are countless vegan blogs, recipe sites, forums out there, and vegans are using their voices to challenge media publicized issues such as factory farming and low carb crazes.  We now have vegan symbols on clothing and other materials to indicate no animal testing or ingredients, similar to kosher symbols.  Many restaurants have vegetarian and vegan options listed on their menus.

I personally think that the health aspects of veganism is what has become so popular and what people are drawn to in a day and age when our obesity rate has skyrocketed and health problems abound.  Veganism offers "promises" of better health, lower weight, lower cholesterol, etc that people find attractive.  However, I think we are treading on dangerous water.  While I believe a vegan diet can be as healthy as an omnivore one, I do not believe it is the fix all perfect diet, and some of the claims made (cures for cancer for example) are questionable.  And this is precisely the argument that omnivores use to discourage people from trying it and why some people continue to think veganism is just another fad diet promise trying to cash in like everyone else.  I also believe the health craze overshadows the ethical reasons for veganism and that most people still do not understand fully the ethical philosphies of vegans.  People can grasp why a person would choose to go vegan for health reasons, even if they disagree with a vegan diet, but they can not comprehend avoidance of all animal products and viewing non human animals as equals with the same needs and rights.  If anything the vegan movement in the area of animal rights, abolitionist approach, animal welfare, labor and environmental issues has made little progress.  Most omnivores I have talked to or whom I have seen voice their opinions on various articles pertaining to these issues are still very apathetic about it or they strongly believe organic farming and "humanely" raised animals/eggs for food is justifiable and sustainable in this day and age. Or that breeding and manipulating animal genes for our benefit (aka pets, testing for cures for diseases etc)  is ok.  Factory farming has still proliferated (with the exception of the veal industry), and overfishing is still killing off whole populations of various fish.  The demand for fish oils, vitamin D3, organic eggs, and high protein low carb meats are all stressing animals and the Earth to a greater degree.  And other cultures are embracing our Western way of life with the inclusion of fast food and factory farming. 

I guess I still support bringing awareness to the vegan way of living and bringing it mainstream even if the main focus is on diet, but I would like to see bringing other vegan issues such as carnism, abolitionist approach etc to the mainstream as well.  I still have to order books like "Sistah Vegan" or "Vegan Freaks" online as I have not found them in mainstream bookstores like Barnes and Noble.  I have found "Animal Liberation" and "The Sexual Politics of Meat" in Barnes and Noble though, buried in the Women Studies or Ethics sections.  But hey it's a start!  I know there are individuals and groups out there doing what they can to bring voice to these issues.  It's tough to do without sounding preachy or cultlike and i think this scares people away.  But tip toeing around issues and being nice about them has not worked either.  Civil rights and women's rights didnt find success because they stroked the egos of their oppressors.

I know why I'm vegan..and maybe this is on a seperate topic..but I'd like to know why people aren't vegan.

I'm a newbie. 6 months now :)

I quit meat cold turkey(no pun intended) OVERNIGHT! I don't crave it...have no taste for it....makes me gag...etc etc...My boyfriend
is the opposite. Meat and potatoes( You know the type.) Without vegweb :)>>> and various books and blogs I'd seriously feel like the only one.

I hear the excuse from the  people I know "oh but meat is cheaper" "I don't have time" "I LOVE STEAK" over and over. It makes me sad. If I can do it anyone can. I never used to cook much before i went vegan. Mac n cheese, eggs, maybe a casserole or two..but now I cook everyday. I LOVE IT! I can't get my BF to touch it. not once! I bake my own bread, pretzels, muffins...the list goes on. I bring muffins and cupcakes to work because I can't consume all of it..my co workers love it. "this is vegan!?" they say. HAHA. I even get requests. Now thats all fine and dandy. I like it. One vegan muffin at a time! but they wont change, my bf won't change, my family won't change.

So they try a muffin..GREAT!

They like my vegan cupcakes...AWESOME!

They ask me questions.."why are you vegan?" "what do you eat?" etc etc...

but then they go home...eat their steak and don't think twice. WHY AREN'T MORE PEOPLE VEGAN????

They ask me questions.."why are you vegan?" "what do you eat?" etc etc...

but then they go home...eat their steak and don't think twice. WHY AREN'T MORE PEOPLE VEGAN????

I live in the western burbs of Portland, OR.  I see a lot of anti-vegan prejudice.  I think it is a backlash against the in your face activists and those that get the "I'm better than  you because of what I (don't) eat" attitudes.  Change is hard for most people.  I just lost a sis-in-law to health conditions that were most likely diet and lifestyle related.  When I was trying to "eat healthy" but still omni several years ago, she accused me of making her suffer when I did not want to cook 5 desserts for Thanksgiving dinner for a grand total of 8 people for dinner. (I did offer her recipes to help with the cooking but she refused.  It was my job)  I finally got her to try hummus just a months weeks ago.  She thought it was "weird but good", a big change in attitude for her.

What really got me to seriously concider cooking vegan at least a few days a week was part of the intro to The Conscious Cook  , no guilt trips, only reasons to concider for doing it and the acceptance that even 1-2 days a week was a step in the right direction even if it never went farther.

My reasons are tax resistance, frugal living, mobility (don't even need a fridge when you're vegan), agricultural efficiency, self-reliance, and of course health.  An ideal rationalist diet might include just a little bit of animal products (ex. 4 servings of sardines a week for natural vitamin D and B12, as well as some extra protein and calcium), but there are some psychological advantages to going 100% pure vegan to avoid the slippery slope.

I thought about going vegan a lot over the past ~6 years, but I've spent only about 1.5 years as a vegan, mainly because I don't like most vegans for political reasons.  It's a really big turn-off.  Veganism should NOT be synonymous with environmentalism, "animal rights", socialism, feminism, and other irrational BS.  A lot more people would be vegans if it wasn't.

I agree that one shouldn't attach cultural associations to personal decisions, I was just saying what my big turn-offs from veganism were.

I did link to my explanation of why "animal rights" are "irrational BS" (and further discussion of this should probably be moved to that thread).  You genuinely do have the Right to like animals, to create a paradise for animals that you own, to donate to non-legislative animal welfare charities, etc.  But forcing your beliefs on others through the violence of the state is irrational and dangerous, as I've explained.

Rights are objective empirically-measurable economic phenomena, similar to the laws of physics - you cannot simply make them up!  When you turn your emotions into "rights", all you are doing is violating the actual Rights of other people!  If somebody wants to rape you, and feels the same emotional intensity as you feel in your desire to protect other people's animals, does that give him/her the "right" to do so with impunity?!

We need to separate dietary veganism from "animal rights" once and for all, just like the "gay rights" movement has separated itself from pedophilia.  Just because you avoid the wasteful and dirty tradition passing your nutrients through an animal's body doesn't automatically mean you want to throw people in prison for leaving their dog outdoors!

I's really a big turn off to be told your beliefs are "irrational bullshit".  Obviously you're not looking for anyone to remotely respect your viewpoint because you don't give it out.   ...

no clapping smiley, Tweety, so  ;)b

:rabbit2:

@veg_body_bldr
i hope that you are right and hopefully not a case of to little to late

I plan to go vegan. At the minute I'm going vegetarian. Walk before I run and all that jazz.

But I think nowadays it's easier to go vegan. There's more alternatives out there and have become more accessible. So people who thought about it don't have such a hard time changing their diet. Years ago it would have been much more difficult to manage that.

Also sites like this provide so many alternative recipies that people wouldn't have known about before. And having that bit of extra support would make it much easier for people to stick to it rather than trying it and giving up if the fail. Especially when friends and family probably think they're crazy for going vegan. Sad but true.